solved Tried (and failed) to make my own NDB, is this possible?

[Kevin509]

I attempted to make a ground unit broadcast a radio signal that I could home in on with the F86's radio homing compass, and I was not successful. I tried the following:

1. Place ground unit (jeep) 
2. (using advanced waypoint options) set frequency 520 am power 10
3. broadcast a morse code .wav on loop 

In the aircraft, if I set one of the 10 radio presets to 520 AM, and I go to that preset, I can hear the morse code loop so I know the ground unit is set up properly as far as broadcasting the signal goes. However, when I turn on the radio compass and try to tune in I get nothing. I selected 520 after some trial and error because it’s one of the frequencies that’s actually marked on the face of the controller, so I can be reasonably certain I’m tuning accurately, but the little needle never moves and the compass never responds.

Am I missing something obvious, or is it just not possible to do this currently in DCS?

Edited August 9, 2023 by Kevin509

[razo+r]

Check the frequency. If I'm not mistaken, you set MHz for a unit, but the ADF mostly uses KHz. So you would have to enter 0.52MHz to get to 520KHz.

[Slippa]

I do this all the time in the Mossie. Same mistake, different radios but I wouldn’t be surprised if razo+r’s got it.

[Kevin509]

45 minutes ago, razo+r said:

Check the frequency. If I'm not mistaken, you set MHz for a unit, but the ADF mostly uses KHz. So you would have to enter 0.52MHz to get to 520KHz.

 

24 minutes ago, Slippa said:

I do this all the time in the Mossie. Same mistake, different radios but I wouldn’t be surprised if razo+r’s got it.

 

Appreciate the quick replies both of you, and hopefully you're right, this sounds like exactly the sort of boneheaded mistake I would've made lol!  I'll confirm when I'm home. 

[Kevin509]

Can confirm I set my unit to frequency .52 AM and the beacon is working as intended. Thanks for the help! 

[Hollister56]

Kevin where did you find the wav file for the NDB?

What 10 preset channels are you are referring too?

I'm having trouble setting up a NDB over the airport so I can do as you described above.

Thanks,

Ed

[razo+r]

8 hours ago, Hollister56 said:

Kevin where did you find the wav file for the NDB?

There are websites that generate morse code that you then can download. Use other websites if needed to convert to the proper file format.

8 hours ago, Hollister56 said:

What 10 preset channels are you are referring too?

He probably means the preset radio frequencies that you can set for your aircraft in the Comms tab in the editor.

8 hours ago, Hollister56 said:

I'm having trouble setting up a NDB over the airport so I can do as you described above.

Thanks,

Ed

Just remember to set the correct frequency, like I've described in my post above.

[Hollister56]

After hours of trial and error and reading Forum posts and watching YouTubes, I am happy to say I think I have it figured out as my NDBs are now functioning correctly in DCS Nevada Map.

Like some one said, when flying the F-86 or WW2 era planes it nice to at least have a NDB on every field/airport.

Here's a couple of things I wasn't doing correctly.

When using either the Trigger Zone or assigning a NDB to an object it must have a Sound file, either .wav or .ogg. I attached a simple letter E in Morse code which works fine. Remember to check the loop box so it plays continuously.  I put my sound file in my Saved Games folder under DCS Mods/Sounds which I had to create.

The Frequency has to be converted from Kilohertz to Megahertz, example 985 KHz = .985 MHz.  This .985 is what goes into the Frequency entry.

If assigning to an object using the advanced option you need two entries, one for the frequency and one to broadcast the sound file, which is send message option. 

This video has some good info.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RADZkVJYQ8U&t=19s

Thanks RAZO+R for the reply.

Ed

Edited December 8, 2023 by Hollister56

[razo+r]

@Hollister56 You don't have to save the audio file anywhere. You just have to find it easily. Once you added it to the mission, the audio file will be saved within the mission. Technically, once you have set it up, you can move the audio file anywhere you want, or even delete it. It will still be present in the mission file. 

[Hollister56]

Copy that Razo+R, good to know.

Convert Text to Audio Morse Code [Downloadable Audio]

FYI 

I used this to make my Morse code idents.